Saturday was a day quite unexpected for me as far as the flying program goes. We only had one flight booked on the program, leaving at 9am for Garrathalala, picking up passengers and taking them to a Church rally in Gan Gan, then back to Numbulwar by 12pm. But even before I got out of bed, there was someone knocking at the door wanting a flight to Bickerton Island.. that was an easy fix, drop them off on my way to Garrathalala. So starting work at 7:30, the morning worked out nicely. When I arrived back in Numbulwar about lunch time, Rachel sent me a text me to say there was another flight to Balma at 3pm. Nice, I thought, as the previous weeks flying was almost non-existant and it would be good to get some flights. Plus, we needed to get some extra hours on the plane so it would have enough hours in time for it’s 100 hourly inspection on Wednesday.

When I arrived back in town there was someone wanting a flight to Groote Eylandt. Okay, I could fit that in before the 3pm flight to Balma even with a 15min lunch break in the office. So the afternoon was all going smoothly and in Balma I was preparing to fly back to Numbulwar. Then some people wanted me to pick up some passengers and food in Lake Evella and bring it back to Balma. After some negotiations regarding payment and fuel and daylight considerations, I agreed to do so. It turned out to just be food, as the two passengers weren’t there. Back to Balma to drop off the food, then finally back to Numbulwar by 6pm. Incidentally, on the first stop in Balma, someone wanted some meat given to someone in Numbulwar, I agreed to take it, but it went first to Lake Evella with me then back to Balma and finally to Numbulwar (about 1 hour and 50 mins trip). It was about 32 degrees, and the people weren’t there to meet me, so it ended up in the fridge in the office here, but I don’t know how it faired, I didn’t want to smell it… not even sure what it was. It left blood in the pod, on the floor of the car, and probably in the fridge.

So 11 hours duty time, 6.5 hours actual flying time, 542nm, 10 landings and 361 litres of AVGAS later, I arrive home. Tired to say the least. I know that these figures don’t break any records, not even my own, but I was just wanting to show how the program in Numbulwar can go from a seemingly quiet day to downright crazy.